funnystrange.com

We have a staging area! Wait, let me me back up a bit. Up until now everyone has been working out of the main office downtown, and then staging events like the weekend canvasses from locations in their territory, like a friendly restaurant (the North Durham canvasses are always staged at the Starbucks at Willowdaile). Once early voting starts, the work is going to be so much more intense that they wanted each field organizer to find their own space to use as an office and staging area. And we found one for the North Durham crew!

It's in an office building on Guess Rd. Within walking distance of Pizza Palace and Hong Kong (the dim sum place). A lawyer's office is generously letting us use their spare room. This morning S. and I moved our things in and set up. There wasn't that much to do: set up the computer and printer, hang the precinct map and some Obama signs, and put the paper shredder in the corner.

I have to go back tomorrow with a few more things: data entry instructions, a pencil cup, power strip for people's laptops, a box for "to be shredded" paper to go into. And we ran into a couple of glitches: first, neither one of us had cell service. This could be a big problem because one of the main reasons for the office is to have a place where we can phone bank every day. Well, I've got Skype, that's one phone line, and I'll just cross my fingers that other volunteers will have better luck with their cell phones.

Second, the computer I scrounged up does not have wireless. Dang! My plan was to have a computer there all the time, and have my Skype account set up on it and the printer connected to it. So people could easily print, and could phone bank using Skype, even when I'm not there. But the computer doesn't have wireless, and we couldn't find a router. We did find an ethernet jack in the room but it didn't work.

We have a couple of options: first, S. and D. may have a computer we can borrow. Or, I can ask the attorneys on Monday if they have a router we can plug into. They have to have one somewhere, generating the wireless network. Last resort, I can bring my work computer in; it has wireless. I'm just hesitant to leave it there because it's my good work computer. But it's not like I'd be leaving it alone with strangers for three weeks. I'm going to be there pretty much all the time except when I'm working at the polls.

Last night Georg and I took a break and did something totally non-political: a concert on Duke campus by Milton Nascimento and the Jobim Trio. Who are actually a quartet: the son and grandson of Antonio Carlos Jobim, drummer Paulo Braga, and a young guy whose name I didn't catch on bass.

It was sort of a history of bossa nova, starting with Jobim compositions like One Note Samba and Corcovado and then moving on to newer songs that fuse bossa nova with other styles. Wonderful music, wonderful singing, a wonderful time. The two Jobims both sang, and I was struck by how much their voices resembled their father/grandfather. I wonder if they have deliberately cultivated Antonio Carlos Jobim's singing style, or if it's just natural.

There was a group of Brazilian women up in the balcony: standing their seats, dancing and singing along, shouting at the band in Portuguese. We were in the front row of the balcony, close enough to enjoy the ladies' enthusiasm but not so close that they interfered with our hearing the music. I am glad we weren't sitting right behind or right in front of them.

My only complaint was the seats: Page Auditorium is horrible, and the front row of the balcony particularly so. We were just lucky we were on the aisle so Georg had someplace to put his legs. If we were in the middle I think his knees would have been up under his chin. Also I wish they had played my favorite Jobim song, Agua de Beber. But with so much great music to choose from they couldn't possibly have played everything.

I'm in such a bossa nova mood now. Hmm.. and I have a new stash of Stan Getz, courtesy of a generous friend with good taste in music. I think I'll have to play some of that -- or maybe a lot -- on my show on Sunday.

This evening I got an email with the subject "Ten Reasons to Vote Early." To my disappointment the email did not actually include 10 reasons, or even a list at all. Just a general exhortation. So here are my ten reasons to vote early:

10. The early voting sticker is cooler than the election day sticker.

9. If there's a problem with your registration, you'll have time to resolve it.

8. Your vote will be "banked" and not vulnerable to October surprises, last-minute vote suppression efforts, or whatever muck is slung at the end.

7. If you have somehow managed to avoid registering, you can register and vote on the same day, but only during early voting.

6. Go early in the early vote period and avoid the lines. Or wait until Nov 1, there will be a long line, and you'll feel like you're experiencing the excitement.

5. If you live anywhere in Durham County, you can vote at the Forest View School on Mt Sinai Road and get your ballot from me!

4. Or you can go to the Board of Elections office downtown and see Mike Ashe while you vote. He's cool.

3. Votes cast early are counted on Election Day, just like votes cast on November 4.

2. I'll be your best friend.

1. Most importantly: voting early is the only way to prevent the onslaught of "Have you voted yet?" phone calls you are about to get.

I'm planning to vote on the first day, for reason #1 alone.

My thoughts are with Lisa, Jason, Reese, and everyone who cared about Moses. He lived a remarkable, remarkably long life.

Yesterday up in Rougemont I registered a very drunk man. In my defense, I had no idea he was drunk until the very end, when he needed my help writing in the date next to his signature. That's pretty bad when you can't even remember how to write the current year. I still didn't realize what was going on until he explained to me that he had had a few. What can I say, it was before noon and "drunk" wasn't the first explanation that leapt into my mind. I thought he was just a bit slow, and the intelligence challenged have the right to vote too. When his card arrives from the Board of Elections will he even remember registering?

Later on I got to a part of the neighborhood where someone else had already canvassed earlier in the same day. I asked a woman if she needed information on early voting, and she told me someone had left a flyer in her door that morning. Then the next house I went to, no one was home and sure enough there was the same lit I had, rolled up and stuck into their door handle. I have no idea who that was, but I hope they coordinate with the Obama campaign in the future. There's no point in overlapping our efforts.

In the afternoon I worked the front desk back at the Durham office. Which was busier than last week. We finally have yard signs, wow! $5 each, one per customer. If you want a yard sign, I recommend getting to the Durham office in the next couple of days. At the rate they are selling I expect them to be gone by next weekend.

Then in the evening we did data entry from today's canvassing. Which was harder than expected due to a software glitch, but went by quickly. Also it was kind of fun to be there after hours. The office was closed and everyone was joking around and having a good time. S. came and D. brought pizza, which made them the heroes of the evening. Also a friend from WXDU showed up. That was cool, to see someone from another context.

From Mark Twain, via my dad:

The argument by the McCain people that they had avoided spending
much money in the disputed states but now were going to come in to
wipe the floor with Obama reminds me of the Mark Twain quotation,
"Thrusting my nose firmly between his teeth, I felled him to the
ground on top of me".

Also thanks to my dad for explaining to me that Claymont was indeed a steel town until the late 1960s. Learn something new every day.

Anyone interested in a VP debate watch party on Thursday night? Between Joe "lovable gaffe-meister" Biden and Sarah "I can see Russia from my house!" Palin, it's guaranteed to be entertaining. The Obama folks are having two watch parties that I know of in Durham: one at Carolina Ale House and one at Pizza Palace. The one at Carolina Ale House will probably be a lot bigger, which could be good or bad depending on your point of view.

I had a good show this afternoon, if I do say so myself. Messed up the timing at the end but I skipped my last talkset, played a very short goodbye song, and managed to finish only 1 minute late. I've been trying not to neglect my show what with all the political activity of late. I did have to postpone all theme shows until after the election. I just absolutely do not have time right now for the prep work required of a theme show. I have no idea how I'm going to manage editing the Veterans Day show. Maybe if I work on it one evening a week from now until the election.

After the show S. and I did a canvass with the North Durham crew. It's so much more fun to canvass with a friend. We got lucky and got a walk list in a neighborhood that was actually walkable. Usually we have to drive to each address, which means each house takes much more time and we have to stay together. Today we were able to park the car in the middle of the neighborhood, split the packet in half, walk in opposite directions and meet back at the car. We were out only 2 hours (usually it's more like 2.5-3) and we got to almost twice as many houses as usual. It was a good neighborhood too. Most of the people I talked to were pro-Obama and even the McCain supporters were pleasant, although S. did talk to one rude person.

After the rally I worked the front desk from 4-7 at the Obama office. They've got me scheduled for every Wednesday morning and Saturday afternoon now. On Wednesday mornings there's someone else too, and she likes greeting people and answering the phone, so I usually spend the morning teaching new volunteers how to do data entry, phone bank etc. It's funny because I'm not that good at persuasion phone banking (much harder than face-to-face canvassing, which is in turn much harder than voter reg), but I seem to be pretty good at telling other people how to do it.

On Saturday afternoons it's much slower, and I'm the only office worker. So I did all of the above: answered the phone, greeted people who came in, trained new volunteers, and did data entry in between. Sounds like a lot but it was pretty slow, and I had lots of time to deal with everything. We have a new staffer who does nothing but organize the office, so things go much much more smoothly now. Everything is (mostly) where you expect it to be and you can find work for new volunteers without having to pester the field organizers.

One thing I do not like about front desk work is the yard sign people. Who come in or call to indignantly demand their yard signs. What do we mean by not having yard signs? What is wrong with this campaign? I try to explain without rancor that yard signs are not in fact a critical promotional tool, but are actually a drain on the campaign, and if they want to help Obama win they could volunteer or at least buy their yard sign someplace else. Sometimes this gets through, most often not.

I did have a good yard sign exchange today. A woman called in a panic because she had seen a whole cluster of McCain/Palin signs at the intersection of Hope Valley Road and Fayetteville, up near Woodcroft. All those McCain signs, and not one for Obama! She thought we should know because we would want to do something immediately! I told her, "The thing is that yard signs don't actually have any benefit to a national campaign, because everyone already knows the candidate's name. So if the McCain campaign is wasting its time and money putting up yard signs, good. We're putting our time and money into getting votes." She talked a bit about how demoralizing it is to see all those signs, and I said that I understand how she feels, and anyone has the right to put up yard signs at public intersections, and if someone wanted to buy some Obama yard signs and put them there, great. But again, I repeated that in terms of winning the election this would be a waste of resources, and I'm glad to hear that the McCain campaign is wasting its resources in this way.

She seemed pleased by this and thanked me for enlightening her (on the way home I realized that I could have said to her, "if you feel badly when you see those signs, think how the person who put them up will feel on November 5 when McCain has lost and he has to collect them all," which might have made her feel really good). Then when I hung up the field organizer in the next room told me I had made his day. He said he had seen those signs and he knew people were going to be upset about them.

They were planning a "data entry party" tonight to deal with the results of the big "100,000 Knocks for Barack" canvass this weekend, and it was just getting started as I was getting ready to go. I felt guilty about leaving but I was exhausted from this morning (and from being up late last night after the debate). If I get enough rest tonight, tomorrow after the canvass I'll help with data entry.

This morning Georg and I went to the Obama/Biden rally in Greensboro. I was excited about being at their first appearance after the debate last night. Also excited about seeing Biden for the first time in over 20 years -- I'm from Delaware and he spoke at my high school. I felt guilty about bailing on this morning's canvass but I'm going out tomorrow afternoon to make up for it.

Anyway. The program was supposed to begin at 12:15 and the gates opened at 10. We got there at 9:15, hoping to get a good spot. Ha! The line was already three blocks long. With the constant flow of people arriving, volunteers walking up and down the line yelling at us about our tickets, and vendors hawking Obama t-shirts, caps, buttons, hand-towels (a new one on me) and umbrellas (ditto), I felt like we were at a sports event or something. I saw a t-shirt design I really liked and the guy had it in my size, so I got that, and also an Obama/Biden hat for my pal Joe, a big-time Biden fan.

Unfortunately we should have gotten there at least an hour earlier if I wanted to see anything. There was a massive crowd -- the N&O says over 20,000 -- and even near the front we were not near enough for my shrimptastic view. Occasionally people would shift just the right away and I would catch a glimpse of the podium. But for the most part, all I saw was the backs of the heads in front of me. The peril of being so short. If I held my camera over my head I could get good crowd shots. Luckily Georg was tall enough to see over people's heads and got nice photos of both Obama and Biden.

Since I couldn't see a damned thing I listened and took photos of the crowd. Got a few nice shots if I do say so myself. The best was one I almost didn't get, as the baby's grandmother didn't want me to take the photo. But the mother said okay, and so I took one quick snap, and thank goodness it turned out.

Obama and Biden are both excellent speakers. Biden hit the "McCain was wrong" phrase over and over. They seem to have decided, correctly I think, that was the best jab from the debate last night. Obama also made a few cracks at McCain's expense, like saying that if McCain keeps stealing his lines ("change" etc) then Obama is going to have to start calling himself a maverick. Mostly it was their stump speech, and at the end Obama urged us all to volunteer and vote early.

It's kind of hard to believe, but pollsters are actually moving North Carolina towards the toss-up category. All these weeks I've been volunteering because I wanted NC to be a thorn in McCain's side. Scare him into wasting money here that he could have been spending in the real swing states, like Ohio and Pennsylvania and Florida and New Mexico and etc. And now it looks like we might actually have a chance to win here. What's that about? Obama must think he has a chance; why else would he have spoken in this state twice in seven days. Did Kerry ever visit NC during the 2004 campaign? Has McCain ever?

According to Pandagon, The student Democrats at Drexel University in Philadelphia are reporting that fliers are being strewn around campus telling students that if they have outstanding warrants or tickets and try to vote, they’ll be arrested.

When was I wondering how long before misinformation like this starts to appear? Oh right, this morning.

You may have received an email which says that if you wear an Obama button or t-shirt to the polls on election day, you will be turned away without being able to vote. In North Carolina, this is false.

I called the Durham County Board of Elections to check. She said that poll workers are not allowed to wear anything that promotes a candidate, but voters can wear whatever they want.* A voter cannot campaign within 50 feet of the polling place; "campaign" means talking to other voters about a candidate or trying to hand out literature. Wearing something with the candidate's name is not campaigning.

This confirms my experience as a poll worker in May. I remembered seeing people on primary day who were festooned with Obama gear -- a shirt, several buttons and a hat on one person -- and no one was challenged. It's probably explained in detail in the poll workers' handbook but I'm too lazy to dig it out. If you want to be sure of your own state, call your local board of elections.

As Georg pointed out, it's interesting (and by interesting I mean shameful) that in a year when record numbers of new voters are expected, emails "warning" of phony limitations on voting rights are already circulating. Who wants to take bets on how long before cards are mailed to African American neighborhoods saying that if they have outstanding traffic tickets and try to vote, they will be arrested?

*I say "anything they want" but I'm not actually sure what would happen if a voter showed up wearing a sandwich board or one of Ray U.'s sign contraptions. Would that be allowed? I'll ask at poll worker training.

Was in a rush this afternoon and stopped at Cookout for lunch. As often happens, the staff gathered around the window to check out my car. One guy there remembered me, more specifically he remembered the Barbie on the roof. Roof Barbie hasn't fared so well; she's crusty and discolored after several years in the sun. The Cookout guy said, "You've still got Sunburned Barbie!" He gave Barbie the once-over (maybe I was there at night last time and he didn't get a good look before) and continued, "She's looking worse. Really sunburned. She's Black Barbie now. With blond hair. She's Ghetto Barbie. Like the girl down the street."

That last seemed to be addressed to a young woman in the window with him. Maybe they're neighbors or roommates or something? I just laughed and said, "You can say that. I can't say that."

I like the folks at Cookout. Eleven months until they have watermelon milkshakes again.

Last night I overheard someone being trained in how to do voter registration. Overhear probably isn't the right word. I was there but I didn't need the training -- as you may have noticed, I've done it a couple of times already -- so I was just watching.

The trainer was explaining about the rights of felons. In North Carolina, people who have committed a felony are able to register to vote again, once they are finished with their parole or probation. I don't understand why felons are disenfranchised in the first place, but if that's the way it is, I think it's fair that they get their rights back once they've finished paying their debt. NC is more lenient than many states: in many places a felon can never vote again for the rest of their life.

This law causes a lot of confusion. Many felons think they can never vote again. Some people committed their crime in a state where felons are never re-enfranchised. They think this means they are not allowed to vote anywhere in the country. Also I met one person who didn't realize he had to re-register. After he got done with parole, this was years ago, he just showed up at his precinct on the next election day. His name wasn't on the list, and when he told the poll worker he was an ex-felon they told him felons aren't allowed to vote. They didn't explain to him that all he needed to do was fill out a new registration form (Or maybe they did and he didn't understand). I never was able to convince him that he is eligible. He so much wanted to vote, and I kept telling him that it was allowed, but he didn't believe me. He kept saying "I tried to, and they turned me away!" It broke my heart.

The registration form unfortunately adds to the confusion. The state board of elections keeps changing the form, and there are lots of versions floating around. The one we've been using for most of the summer has a series of statements with yes/no checkboxes at the top. You have to check "yes" to all the statements, or the registration is rejected.

• I am a United States citizen.
• I am 18 years old, or will be by general election day.
• I have been a resident at this address for 30 days or more. If less than 30 days, I moved here on _____ (date).
• I will not vote in any other county or state after submission of this form. If I am registered elsewhere, I am canceling that registration at this time.
• I have not been convicted of a felony; or if I have been convicted of a felony, my rights of citizenship have been restored.

As you can see, the last one is a big problem. It's supposed to be read as "Yes, I have not been convicted of a felony." Instead most people read "I have not been convicted of a felony" and want to check "no." I call it the "when did you stop beating your wife" question. Because of this question, whenever possible I fill out the form for the person, asking them the questions, writing everything in and just having them sign and date the bottom. (Also because it's a lot faster if I do it.) It's even more confusing for people who have committed a felony, because no one knows what "my rights of citizenship have been restored" means. Basically the only way to get an ex-felon to fill out the form is to tell them, "this strange and confusing statement means some entirely different thing which I am telling you now, oh just trust me and sign here."

So anyway, I was watching the new volunteer get training. The trainer was explaining the questions at the top and how confusing it is. And she said that the question is worded that way because "they" don't want us to know the truth. I strongly disagree with that. I'm sure there are plenty of people who believe ex-felons should never be allowed to vote again, and at least some of those are happy if ex-felons are misled into believing they can't. I do not for one moment believe those people are running the NC Board of Elections. The people at the Durham County level have always impressed me with their dedication to promoting democracy and obeying the law. If they trust the people at the state level then I do too.

I think it was just a design flaw. They thought it would be simpler to have a series of yes/no statements which all had to be answered yes. Which required wording one of the questions so strangely, which added so much confusion that it was a net loss to usability. Simpler doesn't always mean easier to understand, as I'm sure anyone who's ever had to create exam questions can agree.

The BOE seems to have realized this was a problem: as of last Friday they are issuing new forms. Not everyone has the new forms yet of course, since they only just started giving them out. On Wednesday morning I picked up forms for the Durham office and they were the bad ones. On Friday morning I picked up forms for Unity in the Community and they gave me this new one.

On the new form, statements 3-5 have been removed from the checklist. These statements were moved to a new section at the bottom, which they have to read and then sign below. It begins "I attest that..." and then lists all the statements they used to have to check off. The felony statement has been reworded to be much more clear:

• I have not been convicted of a felony or, if I have been convicted of a felony, I have completed my sentence, including any probation or parole. (Citizenship and voting rights are automatically restored upon completion of the sentence. No special document is needed.)

There are a couple of other changes to the new form: Libertarian has been added to the party affiliations, and the place to provide ID has been reworked for the better. It seems to me that they made a mistake with the form, and then they corrected it. I understand why people have a certain lack of trust in the democratic process these days, still I don't think it's fair to attribute this one to foul play.

One more on politics tonight: my favorite political blog, fivethirtyeight.com, is doing a road trip through swing states across the country. They go to cities and small towns in each swing state, and visit field offices for both parties. And they have a talented photographer traveling with them. Really fascinating. They started in Nevada and are working their way east. They have a page just for the road trip posts if you don't want to read about stats.